European Film Star Postcards

Last weekend we visited the International Collectors Fair in Utrecht. It was fun! In three posts we share our new acquisitions. Today, the third and final part.

German postcard by Ufa. Photo: Vogelmann / NDF / Herzog-film. Publicity still for Monpti (Helmut Käutner, 1957).

During the 1950s and 1960s, American singer and actress Olive Moorefield (1932) worked in Austria and West Germany. She starred on stage in musicals and operas, acted in several films, including Monpti (1957) with Romy Schneider and Horst Buchholz, and Onkel Toms Hütte/Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1964), and she appeared in television shows.

Dutch photo card by DRC, no. 17. Photo: MPEA.

British Indian actor Sabu (1924-1963) had 'a smile as broad as the Ganges and charm enough to lure the stripes off a tiger'. He became an instant star with the release of the British film Elephant Boy in 1937. His succession of tropical Technicolor treats delighted audiences before and during WW II.

Belgian postcard by P.E., no. 468.

American singer and actress Helen Morgan (1900-1941) worked in films and on the stage. A quintessential torch singer, she made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s. She starred as Julie LaVerne in the original Broadway production of Hammerstein and Kern's musical Show Boat in 1927 as well as in the 1932 Broadway revival of the musical, and appeared in two film adaptations, a part-talkie made in 1929 (prologue only) and a full-sound version made in 1936, becoming firmly associated with the role. She suffered from bouts of alcoholism, and despite her notable success in the title role of another Hammerstein and Kern's Broadway musical, Sweet Adeline (1929), her stage career was relatively short. Helen Morgan died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 41. She was portrayed by Polly Bergen in the Playhouse 90 drama The Helen Morgan Story and by Ann Blyth in the 1957 biopic based on the television drama.

Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 5124. Photo: Decca Records / Editions Altona, Amsterdam.

Teddy Scholten (1926-2010) was the winner of the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands.

French postcard by EDUG, no. 1010. Photo: Paramount.

French actress and singer Meg Lemonnier (1905-1988) was most active in the French cinema of the 1930s.

German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 2248. Photo: Dial / Unitalia Film, Roma.

Silvana Pampanini (1925) is an Italian actress who knew enormous popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1950s, before Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida reached stardom, Pampanini was one of the most well-known symbols of Italian beauty.

Dutch postcard, no. 662.

French actress and chanson singer Juliette Gréco (1927) was the muse of the existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Later she became the protégée of film mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, who cast her in his films.

Adele Sandrock in Der Letzte Walzer (1934)

Promotion card by Ufa. Photo: publicity still for Der Letzte Walzer/The Last Waltz (Georg Jacoby, 1934).

Grand German-Dutch actress Adele Sandrock (1863-1937) had a successful theatrical career all over Europe. In Vienna she had a stormy affair with the famous playwright Arthur Schnitzler, and enjoyed triumphs as the diva of the modern playwrights. In the 1910s she became one of the first German film stars. After the introduction of sound she emerged as a witty comedienne. She excelled as the intimidating elderly dragon, who could also be surprisingly funny and tactful.

Dutch postcard by Hemo. Photo: Eagle Lion.

British entertainer Georgette 'Googie' Withers (1917-2011) had a long career in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress during the war and post-war years. During the 1930s, Withers was constantly in demand in lead roles in minor films and supporting roles in more prestigious productions. Her best known work of the period was as one of Margaret Lockwood's friends in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938). Among her successes of the 1940s, and a departure from her previous roles, was the Powell and Pressburger film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), a topical World War II drama in which she played a Dutch resistance fighter who helps British airmen return to safety from behind enemy lines. In 1948 British exhibitors voted her the 8th most popular British star in the country. She is also remembered for her role as the devious Helen Nosseross in the classic film noir Night and the City (1950). Googie Withers was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared.

Dutch postcard by Foto Archief Film en Toneel, no. 3335. Photo: RKO Radio Films.

American film, stage and television actor Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair. He first gained worldwide fame in the Orson Welles films Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1943), for which Cotten was also credited with the screenplay. He went on to become one of the leading Hollywood actors of the 1940s, appearing in films such as Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Duel in the Sun (1946) and The Third Man (1949). One of his final films was Michael Cimino's epic Heaven's Gate (1980).

Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1609. Photo: Paramount.

Alluring French leading lady Corinne Calvet (1925-2001) made a big splash in Hollywood in the early 1950s with her sultry looks and her highly publicized legal battles.

Dutch postcard by Van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam, no. 1250. Photo: Warner Bros.

American film, musical theatre, and television actress Janis Paige (1922) moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school and was hired as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen for members of the military during World War II. A Warner Bros. agent saw her potential and signed her to a contract. She began co-starring in low budget musicals, often paired with Dennis Morgan or Jack Carson. She co-starred in Romance on the High Seas (1948), the film in which Doris Day made her movie debut. Paige later co-starred in adventures and dramas, in which she felt out of place. Following her role in Two Gals and a Guy (1951), she decided to leave Hollywood. Paige appeared on Broadway and was a huge hit in a 1951 comedy-mystery play, Remains to Be Seen, co-starring Jackie Cooper. Stardom came in 1954 with her role as Babe in the Broadway musical The Pajama Game. After six years away, Paige returned to Hollywood in Silk Stockings (1957), which starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, the Doris Day comedy Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), and as a love-starved married neighbour in Bachelor in Paradise (1961) with Bob Hope. A rare dramatic role was as Marion, an institutionalized prostitute, in The Caretakers (1963).

The End.

Tall, elastic-faced French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel (1932-2007) rode the crest of the Nouvelle Vague, the French New Wave in the early 1960s. The charming and energetic Cassel was being compared to Danny Kaye and Jacques Tati, but he also showed depth in roles for such famous directors as Claude Chabrol, Jean-Pierre Melville, Luis Buñuel and Robert Altman.

French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Editions du Globe), no. 150. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.

French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Editions du Globe), no. 146. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/393. Photo: Gérard Decaux.

Discovered by Gene Kelly

Jean-Pierre Cassel was born Jean-Pierre Crochon in Paris, in 1932. He was the son of doctor Georges Crochon and his wife Louise-Marguerite Fabrègue, an opera singer. He trained as a classical actor at the celebrated Cours Simon.

As an admirer of Fred Astaire, he took dance lessons in tap, modern and classical. Cassel was discovered by Gene Kelly as he tap danced in a St. Germain nightclub. Kelly cast him in his Paris-filmed seriocomedy The Happy Road (1957). Some years before he already had made his film debut with an uncredited bit role in the musical comedy Saluti e baci/The Road to Happiness (Maurice Labro, Giorgio Simonelli, 1953) starring Philippe Lemaire.

Cassel's break came in 1958, when he replaced Jean-Paul Belmondo on stage in the comedy Oscar. Nouvelle Vague director Philippe de Broca saw the show, and gave him the lead in Les Jeux de l'amour/Playing at Love (Philippe de Broca, 1960). This effervescent sex comedy was dominated by a running, jumping and gesticulating Cassel as a feckless young painter who will not give in to his live-in girlfriend's desire for marriage and a child.

The 1.83 m long Cassel continued with frenzied vivacity and eccentricity in Le Farceur/The Joker (Philippe de Broca, 1960), in which he is a dedicated philanderer searching for the perfect woman whom he thinks he has found in a beautiful and bored wife (Anouk Aimée).

The sweet-and-sour boudoir comedy L'Amant de cinq jours/Five Day Lover (Philippe de Broca, 1961), has Cassel as a bachelor, Jean Seberg, a wife, and François Périer, her husband. He also played the title roles in two screen adaptations of French classics, Voltaire's Candide (Norbert Carbonnaux, 1960), updated to the second world war, and Beaumarchais'Le mariage de Figaro/The Marriage of Figaro (Marcel Bluwal, 1961).

In Arsène Lupin contre Arsène Lupin/ Arsene Lupin vs. Arsene Lupin (Edouard Molinaro, 1962) he starred opposite Catherine Deneuve's sister Françoise Dorléac. He had also fallen deeply in love with her. According to Cassel, it was ‘a terrible, destructive passion’. (Dorléac was killed in a motor accident in 1967.)

Small Romanian card by Cooperativa Fotografia, no. 2. Photo: publicity still for Les fêtes galantes/The Lace Wars (René Clair, 1965).

French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. 1109 A. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.

French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. FK 123 A. Photo: Ufa.

French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. 1082. Photo: Studio Vallois.

Charming, Energetic and Rather Lightweight

The image of a charming, energetic and rather lightweight performer pursued Jean-Pierre Cassel throughout his career even into his 70s, although he did manage to play against type several times. During the 1960s and 1970s he worked with several famous directors. The 67-year-old Jean Renoir chose him to lead a young cast in his penultimate film, the second world war comedy-drama Le Caporal Épinglé/The Vanishing Corporal (Jean Renoir, 1962). Cassel played the educated, off-beat corporal in a German PoW camp, dedicated to escaping, though all his many attempts, save one, end in failure.

A year later Cassel was the dashing musketeer opposite José Ferrer as the long-nosed poet in Cyrano et d'Artagnan (1963, Abel Gance), and he was the romantic soldier Jolie-Coeur in René Clair's final film, a period farce, Les Fêtes Galantes/The Lace Wars (René Clair, 1965).

He was able to suppress his natural charm as a seedy detective in Claude Chabrol's La Rupture/The Breach (1970), trying to ruin the reputation of a woman (Stéphane Audran) in a divorce case; and revealed a new gravitas through his role as 'Jean François Jardie' in the famous French Resistance drama L' Armée des ombres/The Army in the Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969), and as Stéphane Audran's husband in Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie/The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972). Later he worked with Joseph Losey at La Truite/The Trout (Joseph Losey, 1982) with Isabelle Huppert.

He also appeared in various all-star English-language productions such as Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (Ken Annakin, 1965), Paris brûle-t-il?/Is Paris Burning? (René Clément, 1966), Oh! What a Lovely War (Richard Attenborough, 1969) as a French military officer singing 'Belgium put the Kibosh on the Kaiser', The Three Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1973) and its sequel The Four Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1974) as a bumbling King Louis XIII, and the Agatha Christie mystery Murder on the Orient Express (Sidney Lumet, 1974) starring Albert Finney.

French postcard by Editions PSG, presented by Corvisart, Epinal, no. 66.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1062. Promotional postcard for Corvisart, Epinal. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French postcard by St. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 591.

One-Man Show Tributes

Jean-Pierre Cassel had a parallel career in the theatre, first in Jean Vilar's company in the 1960s for whom he played in Molière and Musset, and in 1976, he realised a long ambition to play in a Broadway musical. It was as the director in A Chorus Line at Drury Lane in London.

In later years Jean-Pierre Cassel appeared as Dr. Paul Gachet in Vincent & Theo (Robert Altman, 1990) starring Tim Roth as Vincent van Gogh, and Cassel also appeared in Altman's Prêt-à-Porter/Ready to Wear (Robert Altman, 1994). He reunited with Isabelle Huppert in the thriller La cérémonie/A Judgement in Stone (Claude Chabrol, 1995).

In the theatre, he did one-man show tributes to Fred Astaire and Gilbert Bécaud. In 2004, after he was hospitalised for cancer, Cassel resumed his career with renewed energy, writing his autobiography, making recordings and films.

In 2006, he climbed back on stage at the age of 74 for a retrospective of Serge Gainsbourg, a good friend since the 1950s. The homage Jean-Pierre Cassel chante et danse Gainsbourg Suite featured various songs of the famous French composer, including three unpublished songs from the 1960s.

In 2007, Cassel also appeared in dual roles (as Père Lucien and the Lourdes souvenir vendor) in Le Scaphandre et le papillon/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Julian Schnabel, 2007). In april 2007, Jean-Pierre Cassel died of cancer in Paris, aged 74. He was married to Sabine Litique (1966-1980) with whom he had three children, and to Anne Célérier (1981–till his death) with whom he had a daughter. He was the father of actor Vincent Cassel, Olivia Cassel (deceased), Mathias Cassel (also known as Rockin' Squat, leader of the French rap crew Assassin) and Cécile Cassel.

With his charismatic son Vincent, he appeared together in three films: Métisse/Café au lait (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1993), the short Valse nocturne/Night Waltz (Christopher Barry, 1995) and the thriller Les rivières pourpres/The Crimson Rivers (Mathieu Kassovitz, 2000). His last film was the third live action adaptation of Albert Goscinny& René Uderzo's classic Astérix comics, Astérix aux jeux olympiques/Asterix at the Olympic Games (Frédéric Forestier, Thomas Langmann, 2008) with Gérard Depardieu as Obelix. Cassel played the wise old druid Panoramix.

Jean-Pierre Cassel dances and Serge Gainsbourg sings Chez les Yéyés (1964). Source: Alexey Shakhov (YouTube).

Trailer of L' Armée des ombres/The Army in the Shadows (1969). Source: ennemme (YouTube).

French trailer of La Rupture/The Breach (1970). Source: igotmobilephone (YouTube).

Sources: Ronald Bergan (Guardian), Candide (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

German stage and film actor Albrecht Schoenhals (1888-1978) was predestined by his charming and elegant appearance for high society characters and urbane lovers. In 1942 he refused to play Jud Süss and during the rest of the war years he had to work under difficult circumstances.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3160/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2501, 1935-1936. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1295/2, 1937-1938. Photo: Cine-Allianz.

German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag. Photo: Schorcht-Filmverleih.

Charming and Elegant

Albrecht Schoenhals was born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1888. He was the son of an English mother and a German father. He received a musical education and was also trained as a singer.

In 1914 he volunteered for the military and just before the end of the First World War he sustained a slight wound. After the war he took acting lessons from actor Eduard von Winterstein and in 1920 he made his debut at the Stadttheater Freiburg.

In 1934 he made his successful film debut with a double role in the romance Fürst Woronzeff/Prince Woronzeff (Arthur Robison, 1934) opposite Brigitte Helm. More roles for the charming and elegant actor soon followed.

Schoenhals played opposite the major divas of the German cinema in films like April, April (Detlef Sierck/Douglas Sirk, 1935) opposite Carola Höhn, Einer zuviel an Bord/One Too Many on Board (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1935) with Lída Baarová, Die Kreutzersonate/The Kreutzer Sonata (Veit Harlan, 1937) with Lil Dagover, Tango Notturno (Fritz Kirchhoff, 1937) opposite silent film legend Pola Negri, Die Frau ohne Vergangenheit/The woman without a past (Nunzio Malasomma, 1939) with Sybille Schmitz, and Angelika (Jürgen von Alten, 1940) with Olga Tschechowa.

His appearance predestined him for high society characters and urbane lovers, but in the crime film Mazurka (Willi Forst, 1935) he played a rapist who is finally shot by one of his victims, played by Pola Negri.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9353/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9868/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Walther Jaeger.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3206/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Tobis.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2116/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Lindner / FDF.

The Damned

In 1940 Albrecht Schoenhals refused to accept the title role in the hate film Jud Süss/Jew Süss (Veit Harlan, 1940). The role was finally interpreted by Ferdinand Marian.

Since then Schoenhals only got film offers under difficult circumstances. He was forced to appear in the propaganda film Kopf hoch, Johannes!/Chin up, John! (Viktor de Kowa, 1941) with Dorothea Wieck. He appeared on stage and went on tour with his wife, actress Anneliese Born.

After the war he could go on from his earlier success and appeared in films like Man spielt nicht mit der Liebe/Don't Play with Love (Hans Deppe, 1949) with Lil Dagover, Illusion in Moll/Illusion in a Minor Key (Rudolf Jugert, 1952) with Hildegard Knef, Bildnis einer Unbekannten/Portrait of an Unknown Woman (Helmut Käutner, 1954) with Ruth Leuwerik, and Scotland Yard jagt Dr. Mabuse/Scotland Yard Hunts Dr. Mabuse (Paul May, 1963).

In 1969, he made his last film appearance in Luchino Visconti's masterpiece Die Verdammten/La caduta degli dei/The Damned (Luchino Visconti, 1969). He played Joachim von Essenbeck, the pater familias of a powerful and wealthy family whose downfall both parallels the rise and foreshadows the fall of the Third Reich.

In 1978, Albrecht Schoenhals died at the age of 90. With Anneliese Born, he had a son, Kay (1933). In 1965 he was awarded the Filmband in Gold and in 1967 the Bundesverdienstkreuz for his work in the German cinema.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3584/1, 1941-1944. Photo: MPSS / FDF.

German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: FDF / Lindner / Ross.

German postcard by Das Programm von Heute, Berlin. Photo: FDF / Lindner / Ross.

Trailer of The Damned (1969). Source: Troz2000 (YouTube).

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

On some vintage postcards from my collection has been shot. Small bullet holes are the evidence. These are all postcards of beautiful women: starlets, actresses, singers, pin-ups. They were published in the late 1950s and early 1960s by a German company called Krüger.

Brigitte Bardot at the beach of Saint-Tropez, 1957. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/142. Photo: Ufa.

Claudia Cardinale. German postcard by Krüger / Ufa. Sent by mail in the Netherlands in 1967. Photo: Fried Agency.

Elsa Martinelli. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/255.

Mara Lane. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/58.

Rosanna Schiaffino. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/59.

Shooting Galleries

These postcards were all used in shooting galleries at fairs in the Netherlands. If you hit the postcard, you could take it home. That's why many Dutch men, who were boys during the 1950s and 1960s, still have their postcards of Brigitte Bardot or Jayne Mansfield with a little hole in it.

The publisher who produced these colourful postcards was a company in Hamburg, Arthur F. Krüger, Papierwarenfabrik (paper factory). Krüger must have produced thousands of postcards.
The subjects were mostly topographical, views from cities and villages, both in Germany and abroad.

Krüger also published dozens of postcards of film stars and pin-ups. For the pictures, they often worked with such glamour photographers as the American Bernard of Hollywood, the German Georg Michalke and the Frenchmen Gerard Decaux and Sam Lévin. The results are dazzling.

Vivi Bach. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/274. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Marisa Mell. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/349. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

Sophia Loren. German postcard printed by Krüger, no. 902/304. Photo: Georg Michalke. Michalke made this picture for Loren's 42nd Italian film, La donna del fiume/The Woman of the River (Mario Soldati, 1955).

Dany Saval. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/139. Photo: Sam Lévin / Camera Press / Ufa.

Claudia Mori. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/342. Photo: Gérard Decaux.

Caracas

About the company Krüger, little is known. Later owners were the brothers Ebert. In 1978 or later, Gottfried Ebert moved the company from Hamburg to Caracas in Venezuela.

For a time, there was still a storage in Hamburg. J.S.A. (publisher J. Sleding in Amsterdam) was then Krüger's main Dutch customer. In Caracas, Krüger cooperated with the big publisher Intana.

The archive of Krüger (mainly German and international cityscapes) went to Sleding in Amsterdam. In 2000, the archive was bought by Han Ruyters, owner of the postcard shop Groeten uit... in the city of Utrecht.

At the shop, I bought some of the Krüger film star postcards which came from a sales book of a Krüger sales agent. Examples are the Elga Andersen and Aliki Vouyouklaki postcards here below. They still contain the white strip with name and number on the photo side, once used by the sales agent.

Elga Andersen. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/91. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Aliki Vouyouklaki. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/231.

Pascale Petit. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/65.

Gitte Haenning. German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/379. Photo: Lothar Winkler.

Jayne Mansfield. German postcard by Krüger, nr. 900/78. Photo: Bernard of Hollywood.

This was the sixth post in a series on film star postcard publishers. Next week: Les vedettes de Cinema by A.N. For earlier posts, see the links at right under the caption 'The Publishers'.

Source: Frans ten Bookum and Henk Voskuilen (VDP-Bulletin).

Sexy French actress Nadine Tallier (1932) played various film roles from the late 1940s till the early 1960s. In 1962, she married banker Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild and then retired. Later she became a writer.

German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 3441. Photo: Sam Lévin / Unifrance Film.

Nude scene

Nadine de Rothschild was born as Nadine Lhopitalier in Saint-Quentin, France, in 1932. She left school at age 14 and worked as a salesgirl and in an auto factory.

Lhopitalier became the model of the painter Jean-Gabriel Domergue, a socialite who opened the door to the worlds of theatre and film.

In 1949, she began her acting career under the pseudonym of Nadine Tallier and played various roles till 1964. First, she played many small sometime uncredited parts. She doubled Martine Carol in a nude scene in Caroline Chérie (Richard Pottier, 1951).

In 1952, she played a supporting role in Manina, la fille sans voiles/Manina, the Girl in the Bikini (Willy Rozier, 1952) starring Brigitte Bardot at the age of 17. Manina was controversial for the scanty bikinis worn by the young Bardot in the film. It was one of the first occasions when a bikini appeared in film, at a time when the bikini was still widely considered immodest.

Tallier’s first bigger role was in the Western comedy Fernand cow-boy (Guy Lefranc, 1956), featuring Fernand Raynaud. She is also known for her work in the Louis de Funès comedy Comme un cheveu sur la soupe/Crazy in the Noodle (Maurice Régamey, 1957), and the Spanish-French crime drama Los cobardes/The street of Fear (Juan Carlos Thorry, 1959) with Vicente Parra. In Great Britain, she appeared in the comedy Girls at Sea (Gilbert Gunn, 1958).

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 468. Photo: Sam Lévin.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 725. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Rothschild

In 1962, Nadine Tallier married Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild of the French branch of the Rothschild family. At the time, Edmund was chairman and principal owner of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, a private banking group headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Although she was raised Roman Catholic, she converted to Judaism stating: "It would not have been possible to have the name Rothschild and be a Catholic... Nor would it be right for the son of a Rothschild to be half-Jewish and half-Catholic."

The couple had one son born in 1963, Benjamin de Rothschild, shortly after their marriage. She became a Baroness, with an Austrian title.

In 2004, she opened in Genève the académie Nadine de Rotschild International Way of Life. She wrote a book about manners (Le Bonheur de Séduire l'Art de Réussir) and her autobiography (La baronne rentre à cinq heures). In addition, she provided some reviews in the press on the same subject.

Her husband died in 1997.

French postcard by Editions P.I., presented by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 925. Photo: Studio Vauclair.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

Albanian-Austrian Alexander Moissi (1879-1935) was one of the great European stage actors of the early 20th century. The attractive and charismatic women's idol also appeared in several silent and early sound films.

German postcard by Verlag Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 2680.

German postcard by Hermann Leiser Verlag, Berlin, no. 8709. Photo: Becker & Maass.

Buried Alive

Alexander Moissi was born as Aleksander Moisiu in Trieste, Austria-Hungary (now Italy) in 1879. He was the fifth and last child of Konstantin Moisiu, a rich Albanian merchant in oil and wheat, and the half Albanian, half Italian Amalia di Rada, the daughter of a Florentine writer and doctor.

After an international childhood in Trieste, Durrës and Graz, 20-year-old Alexander finally settled with his mother and two sisters in Vienna. There he was spotted by Paul Schlenther, the director of the famous Burgtheater, and by the legendary actor Josef Kainz, who gave him acting lessons.

In 1901 Moissi moved to Prague where he worked for the Neue Deutsche Theater, and in 1904 to Berlin, where he became a protégé of the influential director Max Reinhardt at the Deutsche Theater. Here he had his breakthrough as Oswald in the Henrik Ibsen play Ghosts. He would continue to play the part for more than two decades.

Under Reinhardt he played parts in many William Shakespeare plays including the jester in King Lear, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1907) and Hamlet (1909). In 1911, Moissi followed the Reinhardt Ensemble to Russia and was acclaimed in St. Petersburg by critic and dramatist Anatoliy Lunacharsky for his interpretation of Oedipus.

Travelling all over Europe and the Americas, he became a globally known star. His repertoire of leading roles encompassed the whole spectrum of European drama, from Greek tragedy to twentieth century modernism. He was the first in Europe to interpret characters from Strindberg, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pirandello, and Hofmannsthal.

His interpretations of Hamlet, Oedipus, Faust, Dubedat in George Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma, and many others, were celebrated at the time, as were his voice and emotional range. His most famous role was Fedya in Tolstoy's Buried Alive (or The Living Corpse). He performed this role 1500 times between 1913 and 1935 and more than one-and-a-half-million people saw him playing the part.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4850. Photo: publicity still for Romeo und Julie/Romeo and Juliet withLia Eibenschütz .

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 8198. Photo: Dr. Hans Boehm. Publicity still for Romeo und Julie/Romeo and Juliet withLia Eibenschütz .

Alexander Moissi in Die Braut von Messina

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 4293. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still for a stage production of Die Braut von Messina (The Bride of Messina) by Friedrich Schiller with Moissi as Don Manuel.

Prisoner in France

Though primarily a stage actor, Alexander Moissi appeared in 17 films productions between 1913 and 1935.

In 1913 he appeared in Germany in four silent films for the Deutsche Bioscop GmbH: the experimental pantomime Das schwarze Los/The black lot (Emil Albes, John Gottowt, 1913), Meier Helmbrechts Flucht und Ende/Meier Helmbrecht’s Flight and End (Leo Greiner, 1913), Die Augen des Ole Brandis/The Eyes of Ole Brandis (Stellan Rye, 1913), and he had a supporting role in the classic fantasy film Der Student von Prag/The Student of Prague (Stellan Rye, Paul Wegener, 1913) starring Paul Wegener.

Two years later he starred in the films Kulissenzauber/Background magic (Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers, Leo Peukert, 1915) and Sein einziger Sohn/His Only Son (Adolf Gartner, 1915).

It was World War I and in 1915 Moissi was mobilized by the Austrian army. As an airman he was taken prisoner in France, but he got free five months later through a prisoner exchange. Till 1917 he worked as a stage actor in Switzerland.

In 1918 he starred as Stanislaus in Pique Dame (Arthur Wellin, 1918), a film adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s short story The Queen of Spades. That same year he appeared opposite Ria Jende in Der Ring der drei Wünsche/The Ring of the Three Wishes (Arthur Wellin, 1918).

The following years he played in such silent films as Erborgtes Glück/Borrowed Happiness (Arthur Wellin, 1919) with Käthe Dorsch, Zwischen Tod und Leben/Between Life and Death (Arthur Wellin, 1919) with Bernhard Goetzke, Figaros Hochzeit/Figaro’s Wedding (Max Mack, 1920) based on the play by Beaumarchais, and Die Nacht der Königin Isabeau/The Night of Queen Isabeau (Robert Wiene, 1920) starring Fern Andra.

German postcard by Verlag Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 3233. Photo: Zander & Labisch. Publicity still for König Lear/King Lear.

German postcard by Hermann Leiser Verlag, Berlin, no. 4165. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still for a stage production of Die Räuber (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller with Moissi as Franz Moor.

Alexander Moissi as Franz Moor in Die Räuber

German postcard by Verl. v. Louis Blumenthal, Berlin, no. 3285. Photo: Becker & Maass. Publicity still of Alexander Moissi as Franz Moor in the stage play Die Räuber (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller.

Albanian citizen

Alexander Moissi’s last silent film was Kean (Rudolf Biebrach, 1921) based on the play by Alexandre Dumas père. Edmund Kean, born in 1787, was the greatest Shakespearean actor of his day. Remarkable is that Moissi’s first sound film, the Hollywood production Die Königsloge/The Royal Box (Bryan Foy, 1929) also told the story of Edmund Kean. The German language production by Warner Brothers was not a success.

In the 1920s Moissi had more success in Russia, France, Austria and Italy than in Germany. After the rise of the Nazis in Germany, Moissi reportedly became an Albanian citizen in 1934 (some sources say that he got an Italian passport). After a successful stage tour through Italy in 1934, Mossi starred in the Italian film production Lorenzino de' Medici/The Magnificent Rogue (Guido Brignone, 1935) with Maria Denis. It would be his final film.

A year later, Alexander Moissi died of pneumonia in Vienna, (some sources say Lugano, Switzerland), and lies buried at the Morcote cemetery overlooking Lake Lugano.

He was married twice. With his first wife, the Viennese actress Maria Moissi he had a daughter, Bettina, who also would become an actress. In 1919 he married actress Johanna Terwin. He is the over-grandfather of German actor Gedeon Burkhard.

In his honor, the High College of Drama in Tirana, and the Professional Theatre of Durrës, Albania, are named ‘Aleksander Moisiu.’ The 60th anniversary of his death was remembered in Albania in 1995 with an Artistic Year dedicated to him; it was sponsored by the Aleksander Moisiu Foundation in Durrës.

Alexander Moissi in Der lebende Leichnam

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 7552. Photo: Fritz Richard. Alexander Moissi as Fedja in Leo Tolstoy's play Der lebende Leichnam (The Living Corpse).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4725/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Defina.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 8519. Photo: Becker & Maass.

Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-line) (German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

The German-Italian coproduction Quo vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925) was the third silent film based on the historical novel of the same name, written by Nobel Prize-winning novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz. Emil Jannings, famous star of the German silent cinema, was cast as the evil emperor Nero.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 638/6, 1919-1924. Photo: Bruckmann. Publicity still of André Habay as Petronius in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925). Collection: Didier Hanson.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 698/9, 1919-1924. Photo: Bruckmann. Publicity still of Gino Viotti as Chilo Chilonides in the epic Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby 1924-1925), a production of UCI (Unione Cinematografia Italiana). Collection: Didier Hanson.

Alphons Fryland and Lilian Hall-Davis in Quo vadis? (1924)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 699/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Publicity still for Quo Vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925). Here, Marcus Vinicius (Alphons Fryland) tries to seduce the chaste Lygia (Lilian Hall-Davis) during an orgy at Nero's palace.

German postcard by Ross-Verlag, Berlin, no. 699/6,1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Brückmann. Publicity still for Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) with Rina De Liguoro as Eunicu/Eunice.

Where Are You Going?

Quo vadis is Latin for 'Where are you going?' and alludes to the apocryphal acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he is going to Rome. Jesus says "I am going back to be crucified again", which makes Peter go back to Rome and accept martyrdom.

Quo vadis? tells the love story between a young and beautiful Christian woman, Lygia, and a military tribune and Roman patrician, Marcus Vinicius. The story takes place in the city of Rome under the rule of emperor Nero around AD 64.

Immediately after author Henryk Sienkiewicz got the Nobel Prize for Quo vadis?, Pathé Frères produced the first screen version, Quo vadis? (Lucien Nonguet, Ferdinand Zecca, 1901).

Ten years later Italian director Enrico Guazzoni made a colossal epic starring Amleto Novelli and Gustavo Serena which focused primarily on huge spectacle. The results of his Quo vadis? (1913) at the box office quickly proved it a smashing success.

Throughout the world, Quo vadis? became popular not only among readers but also among fans of the new phenomenon, cinema.

The third film version, Quo Vadis? (1924-1925) was directed by the Italian Gabriellino D' Annunzio and the German Georg Jacoby. The producer was grand old man Arturo Ambrosio of the Unione Cinematografica Italiana, an Ufa-like or Universal-like merger of many Italian pre-war companies.

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 651. Photo: Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Rina De Liguoro as Eunicu/Eunice in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D' Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 662. Photo: Elga Brink as Domitilla in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 663. Photo: Elena Sangro as the Empress Poppea in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

A Stellar Cast

The historical epic was shot in Rome with a stellar cast of international silent stars. One of the brightest stars of the British silent cinema, Lilian Hall-Davis, and Austrian actor Alphons Fryland played the two young lovers Licia (Lygia in the novel) and Marcus Vinicius.

The German actress Elga Brink appeared as Domitilla.

Italian actor André Habay portrayed Marcus'uncle Petronius, a member of Nero's court who uses his wit to flatter and mock him at the same time.

Italian diva Rina De Liguoro played Petronius' slave Eunice who later on becomes his mistress and dies with him.

And then there was the famous star of the German silent cinema, Emil Jannings, who was cast as the emperor Nero.

Italian Postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 665. Photo: Bruto Castellani as Ursus in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D' Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

Italian postcard by Ed. Romeo Biagi, Bologna, no. 666. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Alphons Fryland as Vinicius in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D' Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 667. Photo: André Habay as Petronius in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

Streaks of Sadism and Nudity

Quo Vadis? had its Roman premiere in March 1925. The producer had tried to equal the earlier version of 1913, adding enormous sets, designed by sculptor and architect Armando Brasini, and streaks of sadism & nudity.

Anyhow, the 1925 version didn't have the worldwide success of Enrico Guazzoni's earlier film. For various reasons: people were a bit bored with epic films and the censor had ordered cuts. The producer almost went bankrupt over copyright claims he all had to pay.

It didn't help that the lion tamer Alfred Schneider was convicted because one of his circus lions had bitten and killed an extra.

Still a fascinating film, especially for the performances of Emil Jannings as the evil emperor Nero, Elena Sangro as the empress Poppea and Bruto Castellani as the strong man Ursus. Castellani had performed the role before in the 1913 version of Quo Vadis?

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 668. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiano. Publicity still of Emil Jannings as Nero in Quo Vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925).

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 669. Photo: Gino Viotti as the leacherous and treacherous Greek Chilo Chilonides in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 670. Photo: Raimondo Van Riel as Nero's evil general Tigellinus in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

Magnificently Restored

In his review at AllMovie, Hal Erickson calls Quo vadis?'a splendidly lavish production': "Emil Jannings, to whom subtlety was a stranger, tackles the role of Nero with lusty abandon, making this already larger-than-life historical personality even more so. The subsequent Hollywood popularity of Jannings prompted a reissue of Quo Vadis? in 1929, reportedly with a newly recorded musical score."

A few years ago, Quo Vadis? was restored by the Dutch Filmmuseum (now Eye Institute), based on various existing copies. This restored version had its 're-premiere' at the Bologna film festival Cinema Ritrovato in 2002.

The note on IMDb about the low quality of the film is exaggerated, as well as the note that film historians consider the 1913 version as lost. That version was magnificently restored in 1997 by, again, the Dutch Filmmuseum and shown on several festivals including Bologna.

Italian postcard. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still of the scene of the kidnapping of Lygia in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

German postcard. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co. A.G. Postcard showing the huge threedimensional set of the palace of Nero in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925). The film sets were designed by R. Ferro and G. Spellani.

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Rome, Villa Borghese

For years, only a small statue of Henryk Sienkiewicz could be found in the same corner in Villa Borghese (Piazzale Ferdousi) in Rome. Now there is this giant, created by Polish sculptor Czeslaw Dzwigaj.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Marcin Kukuczka (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Beautiful, exotic and captivating Sari Maritza (1910-1987) was a British actress in European films of the early 1930s. She also played femme fatales in a few Hollywood films, but retired in 1934.

British postcard. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

A Tango with Chaplin

Sari Maritza was born Dora Patricia Detring-Nathan in Tianjin, China, in 1910. Maritza was the daughter of a British Army Major, Walter Nathan and his Austrian wife.

She received her school education in England, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and was, therefore, linguistically well-equipped to appear in films in European films.

While in Vienna, Maritza caught the attention of the British talent coach and theatrical manager, Vivyan Gaye. Gaye persuaded her to change her name to the much more exotic Sari Maritza - taken from the titles of two then famous European operettas composed by Emmerich Kalman– Sari (also known as The Gypsy Violinist) and Countess Maritza.

She entered films in 1930 and starred in the musical Greek Street (Sinclair Hill, 1930), made by Gaumont British, and the comedy Bed and Breakfast (Walter Forde, 1930), starring Jane Baxter.

She gained some notoriety for dancing a tango with Charles Chaplin at the British premiere for his film City Lights in 1931. Everybody assumed she would be his leading lady both on and off the screen. It was not so, but she had attracted attention.

She was cast in several low budget, but relatively popular British films, such as the drama The Water Gipsies (Maurice Elvey, 1932) with Ann Todd.

In Germany, Maritza made the German-British comedy Monte Carlo Madness (Hanns Schwarz, 1932) with Hans Albers. It was made by Ufa simultaneously in English and in German, as Bomben auf Monte Carlo (Hanns Schwarz, 1931) with Anna Sten instead of Maritza.

British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. 592. Photo: Dorothy Wilding.

British postcard in the Picturegoer series, London, no. 592A. Photo: Paramount.

Not the new Dietrich

In 1932 Sari Maritza travelled to Hollywood. Paramount Pictures spent months perfecting her acting style before starring her in her first picture.

I.S. Mowis at IMDb: “The connection between Ufa and Paramount was significant in launching Sari Maritza's brief Hollywood career. Paramount, always experimenting with continental actresses in the hope of finding another Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich, invented a fictitious, exotic background for her, though she was first, and foremost, English.“

The studio publicized her as its ‘new’ Marlene Dietrich. She made her American debut with the lead in Forgotten Commandments (Louis J. Gasnier, William Schorr, 1932), a framework story which serves as context for a retelling of the Exodus story and a recycling of footage from the silent version of The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1923).

She next starred for Paramount in Evenings for Sale (Stuart Walker, 1932) with Herbert Marshall, and the comedy International House (A. Edward Sutherland, 1933) with W. C. Fields and Bela Lugosi.

For RKO, she made The Right to Romance (Alfred Santell, 1933) with Ann Harding, Robert Young, and Nils Asther. Her American films were poorly received.

In the US, she was portrayed as an exotic European vamp with emphasis placed on her mother's Austrian heritage, but Maritza had lived most of her life in Britain, and disapproved of the studio's attempts to create a more mysterious façade for her. The low budget World War I drama Crimson Romance (David Howard, 1934) with Erich von Stroheim would be her last film.

In 1934, she married MGM producer Sam Katz, and retired. In later years, she admitted that she had been eager to end her career as she did not consider herself to be a capable actress.

The couple divorced ten years later. Maritza worked for a lens manufacturer during World War II. Her second husband was George Clother, an Air Force navigator.

Sari Maritza died in 1987 aged 77 at her home in the US Virgin Islands.

British postcard in the Film Stars and Their Pets series by Valentine's, no. 5843 J. Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Sources: Hans J. Wollstein (Meanwhile... Back at the Ranch), I.S. Mowis (IMDb), Emma (Let’s Misbehave), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Italian actor and stage director Annibale Betrone (1883-1950) was an important figure of the Italian theatre of the first half of the 20th century.

Italian postcard, no. 301.

Italian postcard, no. 17. Photo: Badodi, Milano.

A strong dramatic, sometimes explosive, temperament

Annibale Betrone was born in Turin in 1883. Unlike many of his stage colleagues he was no ‘figlio d’arte’, his father was a tailor, who was passionate about the stage. Annibale found a way to study acting with Domenico Bassi.

His debut came at the age of 17, in 1900, with the title of ‘second actor’ in the company of the brothers Marchetti. He was then hired by the company of Ermete Novelli, with whom he remained from 1901 to 1908. He passed the whole trajectory going from extra, to lover, to young first actor, and finally first actor.

He then moved over to Virgilio Talli’s company for a long period (1909-1921), where he established a famous triad with Maria Melato and Alberto Giovannini.

Between the two wars, he formed famous companies with some of the most reputed actresses, such as Maria Melato, Giannina Chiantoni, Tatiana Pavlova, Emma Gramatica, Paola Borboni, Kiki Palmer, Margaret Bagni, Olga Solbelli, and many more.

Betrone was an actor of a strong dramatic, sometimes explosive, temperament, and moved around within a vast repertory. He achieved great fame. Among his greatest successes are Il beffardo by Nino Berrini and Glauco by Ercole Luigi Morselli. He also played in Anfissa by Leonid Andreev and in La sonata di Kreutzer (The Kreutzer Sonata) by François Nozières, after Leo Tolstoy.

He was Bruneri-Canella in L’uomo no. 15 by E. Wool, and also recited in plays by Rosso di San Secondo (Il delirio dell’oste Bassà) and Diego Fabbri. In 1945, in the just liberated Rome, he performed in The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck, directed by Vito Pandolfi.

In the late 1930s he had his own company, together with Anna Magnani. He directed her and Salvo Randone in several plays at the Roman Teatro Eliseo.

In 1940 he worked with Letitia Maria Celli and Angelo Calabrese, but after the outbreak of the war and the immediate post-war period, he reduced his presence on stage and focused on film acting.

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209.Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).

Annibale Betrone and Oreste Bilancia in L'arzigogolo

Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 228. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924), with Annibale Betrone and Oreste Bilancia. Caption: The buffoon resurrected to the great terror of Floridoro.

Breakthrough in the sound film

Annibale Betrone was very active in cinema, though his silent parts were scarce. He began in 1916 with the silent films Tigrana (Edouard Micheroux de Dillon, 1916) and Alcova tragica (Edouard Micheroux de Dillon, 1916), both with Betrone, Mary Light and Sergio Tofano.

After this followed two films with Italia Almirante Manzini: L’innamorato (Gennaro Righelli, 1920) and L’arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924).

In the early 1930s. Betrone had a new breakthrough in the Italian sound film, when he got a critical and public success playing king Vittorio Emanuele II in the feature film Villafranca (Gioacchino Forzano, 1934). A year earlier, he had also acted in Forzano's fascist propaganda film Camicia nero (Gioacchino Forzano, 1933).

Later he was admired as the human uncle in Piccolo mondo antico/Old-Fashioned World (Mario Soldati, 1941) - where he rivaled with the icy Ada Dondini - and the sensitive father of Doris Duranti in Nessuno torna indietro (Alessandro Blasetti, 1943).

During the war years, Betrone acted in some 26 films, ranging from propaganda films like Giarabub (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1942) to comedies like Teresa Venerdi (Vittorio De Sica, 1941) with Vittorio De Sica himself and Adriana Benetti, and (melo)dramas like the two-part film Noi vivi/Addio Kira! (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1943) with Alida Valli, Rossano Brazzi and Fosco Giachetti.

In 1912, Betrone had married Elvira Sanipoli - who later took the name of Elvira Betrone - and who often played with him on stage and on the screen, such as in the films Teresa Venerdi, Noi vivi and Nessuno torna indietro.

Betrone was also the father of the young assistant-director, scriptwriter and editor Gino (Cino) Betrone, who e.g. edited the film Tosca (1941) by Carl Koch and Jean Renoir. As lieutenant of the Alpine soldiers he fell on the Greek-Albanian front in 1941.

Dedicated to his memory was the film Quelli della montagna (Aldo Vergano, 1943) with Amedeo Nazzari and Mariella Lotti. Cino had delivered the idea for this film, and Annibale played a small part in it.

After the war Betrone was active for the radio. Among his last film roles were minor parts in two epics: Fabiola (Alessandro Blasetti, 1949) and Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei (Marcel L’Herbier, Paolo Moffa, 1950), starring Micheline Presle and Georges Marchal.

Annibal Betrone died in Rome in 1950. His wife Elvira Betrone died in Milan in 1961.

Italia Almirante and Alberto Collo in L'arzigogolo

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante 1924), with Italia Almirante Manzini and Annibale Betrone.

Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 80. Photo Pesce / Scalera Film. Could be a publicity still for the period piece La Gorgona (Guido Brignone, 1942) in which Betrone played count Ranieri.

Sources: Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.

Asia Argento (1975) is an Italian actress, singer, model, and director. She is the daughter of Giallo specialist Dario Argento and starred in many of her father’s films. She won several awards and starred in many international films.

Italian postcard by CIAK. Photo: Giovanni Cozzi / TDR. Photo: publicity still for Viola bacia tutti/Viola Kisses Everybody (Giovanni Veronesi, 1998).

David di Donatello

Aria Asia Maria Vittoria Rossa Argento was born in 1975. Her mother is actress Daria Nicolodi and her father is Dario Argento, an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter, well known for his work in the Italian Giallo genre and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies. Her maternal great-grandfather was composer Alfredo Casella.

When Asia Argento was born in Rome, the city registry office refused to acknowledge Asia as an appropriate name, and instead officially inscribed her as Aria Argento. As a child she was lonely and depressed, owing in part to her parents' work. At age eight, Argento published a book of poems, and at the age of 14, she ran away from home.

She also started acting at the age of nine, playing a small role in the TV Miniseries Sogni e bisogni/Dreams and needs (Sergio Citti, 1985), starring Giulietta Masina. Two years later, she had a small part in Dèmoni 2/Demons 2 (Lamberto Bava, 1986), which was written and produced by her father. She also appeared in its sequel, the horror film La Chiesa/The Church (Michele Soavi, 1989), when she was 14. It was produced by Dario Argento with Mario and Vittorio Cecchi Gori.

Her next film was the teen drama Le amiche del cuore/Close Friends (Michele Placido, 1992), which was entered into the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.

When she was 18, Argento starred in her father’s Giallo Trauma (Dario Argenta, 1993) about murders in a psychiatric hospital. The character played by Asia was inspired by her half-sister Anna (Nicolodi's daughter from a previous marriage) who suffered from anorexia like Asia’s character in the film. Trauma was Dario Argento's first feature length American production and the cast featured American actors like Piper Laurie, Frederic Forrest and Brad Dourif.

Asia received the David di Donatello (Italy's version of the Academy Award) for Best Actress in 1994 for her performance in the comedy Perdiamoci di vista/Let's Not Keep in Touch (1993) written, directed and starred by Carlo Verdone. She won another David di Donatello for her role opposite Michel Piccoli in Compagna di viaggio/Traveling Companion (Peter Del Monte, 1996), which also earned her a Grolla d'oro award.

A large box office hit when released in Italy was the horror film La Sindrome di Stendhal/The Stendhal Syndrome (Dario Argento, 1995), starring Asia opposite Thomas Kretschmann. La Sindrome di Stendhal was the first Italian film to use computer-generated imagery (CGI). It was Dario Argento's highest grossing film in Italy.

Trailer Trauma (1993). Source: R6dw6C (YouTube).

Calling the Shots

Asia Argento has proven her ability to work in multiple languages.

In France, she played the supporting role of Charlotte de Sauve in the period film La Reine Margot/Queen Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994), starring Isabelle Adjani. The film was an international box-office success, and won the Jury Prize and Best Actress Award at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, as well as five César Awards.

Later French films with her were the thriller La sirène rouge/The Red Siren (Olivier Megaton, 2002) with Jean-Marc Barr, the drama Transylvania (Tony Gatlif, 2006) and the thriller Boarding Gate (Olivier Asayas, 2008) with Michael Madsen.

In 1998, Asia Argento began appearing in English-language films, such as the crime film B. Monkey (Michael Radford, 1998), opposite Jared Harris and Rupert Everett, and the Cyberpunk film New Rose Hotel (Abel Ferrara, 1998) with Christopher Walken and Willem Dafoe.

That same year, she made her first foray into directing, calling the shots behind the short films Prospettive and A ritroso. In 1996, she had directed a documentary on her father, and in 1998 she directed a second one on Abel Ferrara, which won her the Rome Film Festival Award.

She also starred with Julian Sands in her father’s Il fantasma dell'opera/The Phantom of the Opera (Dario Argento, 1998), adapted from the novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux, although there are many differences between the book and the film (the biggest: the Phantom is not disfigured).

Trailer Scarlet Diva (2000). Source: Film&Clips (YouTube).

Scarlet Diva

In 2000, Asia Argento directed and wrote her first feature film, the semi-autobiographical Scarlet Diva (2000), in which she also starred. It was a family affair. Her mother, Daria Nicolodi, played Asia’s character’s mother, her uncle Claudia Argento produced the film and her father co-produced.

Four years later she directed her second film, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004), in which she starred with Peter Fonda as her father and Ornella Muti as her mother.

In the US, she starred in the action film xXx (Rob Cohen, 2002) with Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson, which was a commercial success. Other films in which she starred were The Keeper (2004, Paul Lynch) with Dennis Hopper, Last Days (Gus Van Sant, 2005) starring Michael Pitt, and George A. Romero's post-apocalyptic horror film Land of the Dead (2005).

She played Madame DuBarry in the historical drama Marie Antoinette (2006), written and directed by Sofia Coppola. Argento reunited with Abel Farrara for Go Go Tales (Abel Ferrara, 2007) starring Willem Dafoe.

In France she appeared in Une vieille maîtresse/The Last Mistress (Catherine Breillat, 2007), based on a controversial novel by the French writer Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly. The film was entered into the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Then followed a starring role in her father’s supernatural horror film La Terza madre/The Mother of Tears (Dario Argento, 2007) with her mother Daria Nicolodi and Udo Kier co-starring. La Terza madre is the concluding instalment of Argento's supernatural horror trilogy The Three Mothers, which began with Suspiria in 1977.

More recent films include the Italian drama Isole/Islands (Stefano Chiantini, 2011), the comedy Baciato dalla fortuna (Paolo Costella, 2011) – a huge hit in Italy, and Dracula 3D (Dario Argento, 2012) starring Thomas Kretschmann and Rutger Hauer.

In addition to her cinematic accomplishments, Argento has written a number of stories for magazines, while her first novel, titled I Love You Kirk, was published in Italy in 1999. She has modelled for and endorses the brand Miss Sixty. She became a fan of the band Hondo Maclean when they wrote a track named after her. She liked the track so much she sent them pictures which they used as the cover of their 2003 EP Plans for a better day.

Her first child, Anna Lou, was born in 2001. Italian rock and roll musician Marco Castoldi (lead singer of Bluvertigo), also known as Morgan, is the father. She named her daughter after her half-sister Anna Ceroli, who died in a motorcycle accident. Argento married film director Michele Civetta in 2008 in Arezzo. Her second child, Nicola Giovanni, was born that year in Rome.

Trailer Dracula 3D (2012). Source: JoBlo Movie Trailers (YouTube).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

From the 1910s till after the Second World War, A.N. or A. Noyer was a large French photo studio and postcard publisher. A.N. produced the beautiful series Les Vedettes de Cinema with ca. 1300 star postcards.

Stacia Napierkowska. French postcard by A.N., Paris, in the series Les Vedettes de Cinéma, no. 50. Photo: Sobol.

Raquel Meller. French postcard by A.N., Paris, in the series Les Vedettes de Cinéma, no. 51. Sent by mail in 1925. Photo: Sobol.

Charles de Rochefort. French postcard by A.N., Paris, in the series Les Vedettes de Cinéma, no. 77. Photo: Paramount Film.

Jean Angelo. French postcard by A.N., Paris, in the series Les Vedettes de Cinéma, no. 162. Photo: Sartony.

French postcard by A.N. Paris, in the series Les Vedettes de Cinéma, no. 251. Photo: Production Natan. Publicity still of Pierre Batcheff in Education de prince (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1927). Collection: Didier Hanson.

Armand Noyer

A.N. or A. Noyer stood for Armand Noyer, and not for Alfred Noyer, as many sources write. He was a well known French photographer in the early 20th Century. His company was located at the Boulevard de Strasbourg in Paris.

In the early 1910s, Noyer started to make postcards. Many of his early cards were photo reproductions of drawn, painted, or sculpted artworks printed in halftone lithography. Noyer was a member of the Salon de Paris and photographed paintings for the Salon and other institutions, which he also used for the production of his art cards.

Armand Noyer’s boldly hand colored seaside figures became his most recognized style. Many of his photos from this time were heavily toned in blue or sepia. Noyer also produced illustrated photo cards of the First World War, many with heavy patriotic or allegorical themes.

The novelist and performer Colette. French postcard by A.N. Paris, no. 22. Photo: Henri Manuel.

French boxer and war hero Georges Carpentier. French postcard by A.N., Paris. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Georges Carpentier. French postcard by A.N., Paris. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Miss Europe candidates 1930: the Misses Russia, Austria, and Holland. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 24. Left Irene Wentzel (aka Irene Wentzell aka Irina Veisel) was Miss Russia in Paris in 1930, elected by Russian immigrants, so she joined the 1930 Miss Europe pageant in Paris. Centre Ingeborg von Grinberger aka Grienberger was Miss Austria 1930, so she also joined the Miss Europe contest. Just like in 1929, the Austrian daily Das neue Wiener Tagblatt had organised the pageant. She originally came from the Austrian province of Steiermark. Most right is Rie van der Rest, the 1930 Miss Holland.

Miss Europe 1930 candidate: Dorit Nitykowski.

Miss Germany 1930: Dorit Nitykowski. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 5. Dorit Nitykowski, born 1911 in Berlin, was crowned Miss Germany in 1930 at the Berlin Kaiserhof. She could join the 1930 Miss Europe contest in Paris. Winner that year was Miss Greece: Aliki Diplarakou. Nitykowski also participated in the 1930 Miss Universe contest in Rio de Janeiro. She had to give back her title of Miss Germany, as she married the star pilot Rudolf Cramer von Clausbruch before her one-year existence of Miss Germany had ended.

Boudoir Cards

By the 1920s Armand Noyer began producing cards of children and women, many of which were nudes or risque images. Some sites call them 'boudoir cards', a popular genre since the Belle Epoque.

Noyer also published a widely distributed series of sepia-toned portrait postcards of boxer, war hero and incidental film actor Georges Carpentier, which all contain his signature. The series was produced by A.N. in the lead-up to Carpentier’s legendary fight in 1921 with champ Jack Dempsey. This fight for the world's heavyweight crown became one of the highlights of the Roaring Twenties.

Another example are the many postcards of Miss Europe contestants published by A.N. during the late 1920s and early 1930s.

We're of course especially interested in A.N. because it produced the exquisite series Les Vedettes de Cinema with sepia film star postcards. When the series stopped, A.N. continued to publish film star postcards. The numbering on the cards was continued.

Note that while many postcards carry his distinctive logo or his name, others are just marked A.N.

When and why A.N. stopped publishing postcards is unclear. If somebody has more information to share, please contact us.

Charles Boyer. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 643. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Lily Damita. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 647. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Marie Bell. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 733. Photo: Paramount.

Jeanne Helbling. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 776. Photo: Paramount.

Pauley. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1062. Photo: Paramount.

Jean Gabin. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1160. Photo: Films Osso.

Gérard Philipe. French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1261. Photo: Raymond Voinquel.

This was the seventh post in a series on film star postcard publishers. Next week: Neue Photographische Gesellschaft (NPG). For earlier posts, see the links at right under the caption 'The Publishers'.

Sources: Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City, Cinema Players Postal Antiquities, Georges Carpentier, The Idol of France, Helmut Schmidt (Boudoir Cards) and WikiBooks (French).

German actor Harry Liedtke (1882-1945) was the charming ladykiller of many early silent classics. Detective serials like Joe Deebs made him one of the first male stars of the German cinema.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, no. 3002. Photo Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard by Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 3003. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 3055. Photo: Mac Walten, Berlin.

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1984. Photo: Union-Film. Erna Morena, Harry Liedtke and Magnus Stifter in Rafaela/Wer weiss? (Arsen von Cserépy, 1917).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 284/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 463/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Riess.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 482/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

Elegant Gentleman

Harry Liedtke was born in Königsberg, East Prussia (today: Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1882. He was the seventh of eleven children of an import and export merchant who dealt with linseed and hemp. After the death of his father in 1896, he grew up in an orphanage and began a qualification in retail business.

During a visit to Berlin, Liedtke met Hans Oberländer, the artistic director of Königliches Schauspielhaus. After several acting lessons, he became a cast member at Stadttheater Freiberg, Saxony. He had some more theatre engagements, and in 1908 he went to New York for one year to play at the New German Theatre.

After his return in Germany his career finally got ahead with engagements at the Hof- und Nationaltheater in Mannheim and the Residenz-Theater and Deutschen Theater in Berlin.

Very early he came in contact with the medium film. In 1912 he made his film debut in Zu spät/Too Late (Carl Froelich, 1912), produced by film pioneer Oskar Messter. In the following years he personified the elegant gentleman and youthful charmer in many productions of the Messter studio, like Eva (Curt A. Stark, 1913) starring Henny Porten, and Schuldig/Guilty (Hans Oberländer, 1914) with Leopoldine Konstantin.

In 1916 he became a widely popular star as the detective Joe Deebs in short adventure films like Wie ich Detektiv wurde/How I Became Detective (Joe May, 1916), and Das Rätselhafte Inserat/The Mysterious Advertisement (Karl Gerhardt, Joe May, 1916).

Harry Liedtke in Eine Nacht in der Stahlkammer

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2023. Photo: Union-Film. Harry Liedtke in the film Eine Nacht in der Stahlkammer/A night in the vault (Felix Basch, 1917).

Pola Negri and Harry Liedtke in Madame DuBarry (1919)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 627/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Union. Publicity still for Madame DuBarry (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919) with Pola Negri.

Harry Liedtke in Struensee/ Die Liebe einer Köningin

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 657/2. Photo: Maxim Film. Harry Liedtke as Johan Friedrich Struensee, physician and lover of the Danish queen (Henny Porten) in Struensee/Der Liebe einer Königin (Ludwig Wolff, 1923).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 659/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Rembrandt / Peter Paul Felner Film Co. Publicity still for Der Kaufmann von Venedig/The Merchant Of Venice (Peter Paul Felner, 1923).

Harry Liedtke and Lya Mara in An der schönen blauen Donau

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 56/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Zelnik Film. Publicity still for An der schönen blauen Donau/The Beautiful Blue Danube (Friedrich Zelnik, 1926) with Lya Mara. Collection: Egbert Barten.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 925/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 981/4, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1394/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Hameister - Eichberg Film G.m.b.H. Publicity still for Liebe und Trompetenblasen (Richard Eichberg, 1925) with Lilian Harvey. Collection: Didier Hanson.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1622/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Zelnick-Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1622/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Zelnick Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1632/1. Photo: Fox. Harry Liedtke in Madame wünscht keine Kinder (Alexander Korda, 1926).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1719/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Arthur Ziehm, Berlin. Publicity still for Kreuzzug des Weibes/The Wife's Crusade (Martin Berger, 1926) with Conrad Veidt.

Lubitsch

Now, famous directors wanted Harry Liedtke for their films, and he developed into one of the first male stars of the German cinema.

With director Paul Leni, he made Prima Vera/Camille (1917) opposite Erna Morena, Dornröschen/The Sleeping Beauty (1917) with his wife Käthe Dorsch, and Das Rätsel von Bangalor/The Mystery of Bangalore (Paul Leni, Alexander Antalffy, 1918) with Conrad Veidt.

With Ernst Lubitschhe celebrated great successes in the Fledermaus-adaptation Das fidele Gefängnis/The Merry Jail (1917) with Ossi Oswalda, Der Rodelkavalier (1918), Die Augen der Mumie Ma/The Eyes of the Mummy Ma (1918) with Emil Jannings, Das Mädel vom Ballet/The Ballet Girl (1918), Carmen (1918) with Pola Negri, Die Austernprinzessin/The Oyster Princess (1919), Madame Dubarry (1919), Sumurun/One Arabian Night (1920), and Das Weib des Pharao/The Wife of the Pharaoh (1922) with Dagny Servaes.

Other popular films were the Frank Wedekind adaptation Lulu (Alexander Antalffy, 1917) with Erna Morena, the Detective series Der Mann ohne Namen/The Man Without a Name (Georg Jacoby, 1921), the comedy Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs/The Grand Duke's Finances (F.W. Murnau, 1924) starring Alfred Abel, Nanon (Hanns Schwarz, 1924) starring countess Agnes Esterhazy, and Der Feldherrnhügel (1926) with Olga Tschechova.

Agnes Esterhazy and Harry Liedtke in Der Bettelstudent (1927)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 91/1. Photo: Aafa. Publicity still for Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927) with Agnes Estherhazy.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3000/1, 1928. Photo: Hegewald-Film. Harry Liedtke starred in the Hegewald-Film production Das Fürstenkind (Jakob and Luise Fleck, 1927).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3000/2, 1928. Photo: Hegewald-Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3033/1, 1928-1929. Photo: R. Grunemann, Frankfurt/Oder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3125/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film.

Christa Tordy and Harry Liedtke in Amor auf Ski (1928)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 3417/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Phoebus-Film AG. Publicity still for Amor auf Ski/Cupid on skis (Rolf Randolf, 1928) with Christa Tordy.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3417/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Phoebus-Film. Publicity still with Harry Liedtke and Christa Tordy in Amor auf Ski/Cupid on skis (Rolf Randolf, 1928).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3642/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film. Publicity still for Das Spiel mit der Liebe/The Game of Love (Victor Janson, 1928) with Hilda Rosch.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3957/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film. Publicity still for Der Faschingsprinz/The carnival prince (Rudolf Walther-Fein, 1928).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4361/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin. Publicity still for Die Zirkusprinzessin/The Circus Princess (Victor Janson, 1929) with Marianne Winkelstern.

Silent Operettas

In the second half of the 1920s, Harry Liedtke appeared in many silent operettas such as Liebe und Trompetenblasen/Love and Trumpet Playing (Richard Eichberg, 1925) with Lilian Harvey, Die Försterchristel/The Bohemian Dancer (Friedrich Zelnik, 1926) with Lya Mara, and Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame/I Kiss Your Hand Madame (Robert Land, 1929) with Marlene Dietrich.

When the sound film arrived Liedtke’s career slackened off. His voice turned out to be unsuitable. He got supporting roles in such films as Preußische Liebesgeschichte/A Prussian Love Story (Paul Martin, 1938) with Willy Fritsch, and Quax, der Bruchpilot/Quax, the Crashing Pilot (Kurt Hoffmann, 1941), but leading roles were left over more rarely.

He changed inevitably from a ladykiller to a graying gentleman. With his leading role in the comedy Sophienlund (Heinz Rühmann, 1942) he could prove his acting skills. His final role was the lead in Das Konzert/The Concert (Paul Verhoeven, 1944).

During the invasion of the Red Army in April 1945 Harry Liedtke and his third wife, actress Christa Tordy were murdered by Soviet soldiers in their own house in Bad Saarow-Pieskow. One of the Russians smashed a bottle over Liedtke's head when he tried to save his wife from being raped.

Harry Liedtke first had been married to Hanne Schutt. From 1920 till 1928, Liedtke was married to the actress Käthe Dorsch.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 981/2, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 981/3, 1925-1926. Photo: Alex Binder.

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German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1280/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Hanni Schwarz, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1812/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Hanni Schwarz, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3181/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3592/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Hanni Schwarz, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4189/3, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5273/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Guldenberg, Berlin.

German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, Berlin, no. A 3775/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Baumann / Terra.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), Wikipedia (German), Filmportal.de and IMDb.

Hungarian actress Käthe von Nagy (1904-1973) started as the ‘Backfish’ of German films of the late 1920s. In the early 1930s she became a fashionable and charming star of the German and French cinema.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5029/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Atelier Manassé, Vienna.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6107/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6850/2, 1931-1932. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères, Paris / Ufa. Collection: Didier Hanson.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6972/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Das schöne Abenteuer/Beautiful Adventure (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7513/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8097/2, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.

Backfisch

Käthe von Nagy was born Ekaterina Nagy von Cziser (Kato Nagy) in Szabadka, Austria-Hungary (now: Subotica, Serbia) in 1904.

At the age of 16 she planned to get married and therefore her parents put her in the Sancta Christiana Convent near Vienna. After that, she worked in her father's bank office in Budapest and secretly started to write short stories for a newspaper. She also attended the acting school of director Béla Gáal and in 1926, against the will of her parents, she went to Berlin to make films.

While searching for an acting job she earned her money as a correspondent for the Hungarian newspaper Pester Hirlop. Hungarian director Alexander Korda helped her get her first film job. It was a supporting role in Männer von der Ehe/Men Before Marriage (Constantin J. David, 1927), which got her the reputation of a ‘backfisch’. The director, Constantin David, would also become her first husband.

Soon followed roles in Gustav Mond... Du gehst so stille/You Walk So Softly (Reinhold Schünzel, 1927) and Die Königin seines Herzens/Vienna, City of My Dreams (Victor Janson, 1928) starring Liane Haid.

With her first leading role in Die Durchgängerin/The Runaway Girl (Hanns Schwarz, 1928) she became the up-and-coming young actress of the European cinema of the 1920s. N

ext followed the Italian production Rotaie (Mario Camerini, 1929) and Mascottchen/Mascots (Felix Basch, 1929) with Jeanne Helbling.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5875/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6367/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6807/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6972/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6415/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa / Frhr. v. Gudenburg.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7076/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.

The fashionable, elegant, a bit exotic type

In 1930, Käthe von Nagy smoothly moved into the talkies. She appeared as a resolute demimonde dame with psychotherapeutic powers in the Jekyll-and-Hyde-drama Der Andere/The Other (Robert Wiene, 1930), costarring Fritz Kortner and Heinrich George.

She said goodbye to her ‘backfisch’ image and impersonated frequently on the screen. Her operettas and musical comedies were very popular and confirmed her promise of the late 1920s.

To her successes of the 1930s belong Ihre Majestät die Liebe/Her Majesty Love (Joe May, 1930) with Franz Lederer, Meine Frau, die Hochstaplerin/My Wife, the Impostor (Kurt Gerron, 1931) opposite Heinz Rühmann, Ronny (Reinhold Schünzel, 1931), Ich bei Tag und Du bei Nacht/I by Day, You by Night (Ludwig Berger, 1932) opposite Willy Fritsch, Der Sieger/The Victor (Hans Hinrich, Paul Martin, 1932) with Hans Albers, Das Schöne Abenteuer/Beautiful Adventure (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932), the anti-Soviet propaganda film Flüchtlinge/Fugitives (Gustav Ucicky, 1933), Die Töchter ihrer Exzellenz/The daughters of Her Excellency (Reinhold Schünzel, 1934) and Salonwagen E 417/Luxury Train (Paul Verhoeven, 1939) with Paul Hörbiger.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6605/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der Sieger/The Winner (Paul Martin, Hans Hinrich, 1932) with Hans Albers.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6604/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der Sieger/The Winner (Paul Martin, Hans Hinrich, 1932) with Hans Albers.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7131/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Le capitaine Craddock/Captain Craddock (Hanns Schwarz, Max de Vaucorbeil, 1931) with Jean Murat.

Fernand Gravey and Käthe von Nagy in À Moi le Jour, à Toi la Nuit (1932)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7535/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for À Moi le Jour, à Toi la Nuit/Day To Me, to You the Night (Ludwig Berger, Claude Heymann, 1932) with Fernand Gravey.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8822/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Der junge Baron Neuhaus/The Young Baron Neuhaus (Gustav Ucicky, 1934) with Viktor de Kowa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 142/2. Photo: Günther Pilz / Ufa. Publicity still for Das Schöne Abenteuer/Beautiful Adventure (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932) with Wolf Albach-Retty.

Käthe von Nagy and Wolf Albach Retty in Das Schöne Abenteuer

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 142/6. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Das schöne Abenteuer/Beautiful Adventure (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932) with Wolf Albach-Retty.

French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 76. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for La belle aventure/Beautiful Adventure (Roger Le Bon, Reinhold Schünzel, 1932), the French language version of Das schöne Abenteuer (Reinhold Schünzel, 1932).

France

Because of her multilingual education Käthe von Nagy was able to establish in the French cinema too. As Kate de Nagy she became a star in France.

To her French productions belong La Capitaine Craddock/Captain Craddock (Hanns Schwarz, Max de Vaucorbeil, 1931) with Jean Murat, La route impériale/The Imperial Road (Marcel L’Herbier, 1935) with Pierre Richard-Willm, Cargaison blanche/Woman Racket (Robert Siodmak, 1937) opposite Jules Berry, and La bataille silencieuse/The silent battle (Pierre Billon, 1937) starring Pierre Fresnay.

She withdrew from the film business with the beginning of World War II. After the war she appeared only twice on the screen, in the French drama Cargaison clandestine/Alarm in San Juano (Alfred Rode, 1948-1950) with Luis Mariano, and the German remake of Die Försterchristl/The Forester's Daughter (Arthur Maria Rabenalt, 1952), alongside Johanna Matz.

In the mid-1950s she went to California where she worked as a French teacher at Happy Valley School in Ojai, California.

Käthe von Nagy died of cancer in Ojai, USA in 1973. After her marriage to Constantin J. David, she was married to the Frenchman Jacques Fattini.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6849/3, 1931-1932. Photo: Studio Lorelle, Paris / Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6376/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8886/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Prinzessin Turandot/Princess Turandot (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1934).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8934/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Prinzessin Turandot/Princess Turandot (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1934) with Willy Fritsch.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7280/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7513/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7604/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8099/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8954/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Ufa.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Operator 99 (Allure), Filmportal.de,Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Today's film special is about the Italian silent film L'arzigogolo/The Court Jester (Mario Almirante, 1924). The successful costume drama starred diva Italia Almirante Manzini, Annibale Betrone and Oreste Bilancia.

Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 528. Photo: Scoffone. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924), with Italia Almirante Manzini.

Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924) with Annibale Betrone.

Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 202. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924) with Oreste Bilancia.

An Attractive Cast

The costume drama L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924) has an attractive cast.

Leading lady is Italia Almirante Manzini (1890-1941), wife of director Mario Almirante. Italia had starred in the classic epic Cabiria (1914) and was one of the divas of the Italian silent cinema.

The court jester of the title was played by Annibale Betrone (1883-1950). He was an important figure of the Italian theatre of the first half of the 20th century. Betrone also appeared in several silent and sound films.

Oreste Bilancia (1881-1945) was another well known face of the Italian silent cinema. As in L'arzigogolo, he mostly worked as supporting actor, but occasionally he played the main character.

Italia Almirante and Oreste Bilancia in L'arzigogolo

Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 197. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924) with Oreste Bilancia and Italia Almirante Manzini.

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 209. Photo: publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924) with Italia Almirante Manzini and Annibale Betrone.

Classic Love Story

L'arzigogolo is a classic love story in the vain of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The story was a liberal adaptation of a popular 1922 stage play by Sem Benelli. The sets were designed by Luigi Sapelli, better known as Caramba, who specialized in costume dramas. Director of photography was Ubaldo Arata, who was one of Italy's most famous cinematographers.

Italia Almirante plays Monna Violante, daughter of the Prince of Capri, who is wed by her father to the rich merchant Floridoro (Oreste Bilancia), a fat and wealthy merchant, confident and convinced of being protected by good fortune.

Monna Violante falls in love with Spallatonda (Annibale Betrone), the court jester and servant of count Giano (Alberto Collo), one of her suitors. After Giano has been killed by the hand of Spallatonda, Monna Violante and Spallatonda run away.

After the premiere, the critic of Il Roma della Domenica wrote: "L'arzigogolo did not delude the high expectations, because it is the result on screen of an original and interesting work. Therefore the poet (Sem Benelli) can be satisfied."

The critic of La Vita Cinematografica adds: "We never saw Italia Almirante so perfect in place. She exquisitely figures as an intelligent woman. Her plastic beauty, preserved by exuberant costumes, makes the complex and enigmatic character of Violante more fascinating and suggestive."

L'arzigogolo became one of the most successful films in Italy of 1924.

Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 211. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924). Caption: The arrival of the buffoon at the castle of Giano.

Italia Almirante and Annibale Betrone in L'arzigogolo

Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 216. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924), with Italia Almirante Manzini and Annibale Betrone. Caption: In the calm moonlight the buffoon sees Violante and declares her his love.

Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 227. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924), with Annibale Betrone and Italia Almirante Manzini . Caption: True love...attained in vain... He is dead!

Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 228. Photo: Alba Film. Publicity still for L'arzigogolo (Mario Almirante, 1924), with Annibale Betrone andOreste Bilancia. Caption: The buffoon resurrected to the great terror of Floridoro.

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il Cinema Muto Italiano 1923-1931 - Italian), Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.

On 30 April. French singer and actress Patachou (1918-2015) passed away. She was a mythical icon of the French chanson. With her full voice and typical Parisian accent, Patachou was very popular in France during the 1950s, and also had a successful international career. She discovered singer Georges Brassens and song writer Guy Béart. She also appeared on stage and in several French films, including a memorable turn as the charming grand-mother Mathilde in the art-house hit Drôle de Félix/Funny Felix (2000).

Vintage postcard, no. GF 025 66/18. Photo: Philips.

Puff Dough

Patachou was born as Henriette Eugénie Jeanne Ragon in Paris, in the poor, working-class district of Ménilmontant, in 1918. Her father was a ceramist, her mother a housewife. Henriette grew up as an only child in a family where the household income was modest, but parents and child were remarkably close.

She began her working life as a typist, then worked as a factory worker, a shoeseller, and as an antique dealer. In 1948, with her husband Jean Billou, she took over a cabaret-restaurant on the butte of Montmartre, called Patachou. Henriette became a popular fixture behind the bar.

She became famous for snipping off the ends of customers' ties! and also performed in her patisserie-bistro at the request of the guests. One of those guests was the famous entertainer Maurice Chevalier, who encouraged her to become a professional singer. French journalists began to call her Lady Patachou after the name of her cabaret restaurant (pâte-à-choux means cream puff dough).

She sang pre-war songs like Mon homme and Domino. Many chanson singers like Édith Piaf, Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour also performed in her cabaret-restaurant. From 1952 her first records appeared; she appeared at Bobino, a Montparnasse music-hall, toured in France and then further afield.

In 1952, the then unknown Georges Brassens sang there, and together Patachou and he sang the duet Maman, papa. Patachou was the first interpreter of his songs like Le bricoleur and La chasse aux papillons, and she introduced them to a broad audience. Later she would be the first to perform songs by Guy Béart, the father of film star Emmanuelle Béart.

French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 540. Photo: Staval.

Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, for Philips Grammofoonplaten, no. 5132. Photo: Editions ALTONA, Amsterdam.

Sunshine Girl

Patachou also became popular as a film star in the early 1950s. She appeared in the films Femmes de Paris/Women of Paris (Jean Boyer, 1953), French Cancan (Jean Renoir, 1954) with Jean Gabin, and Napoléon (Sacha Guitry, 1954).

From 1953, she toured through the United States and performed at the Palladium, the Waldorf Astoria, and Carnegie Hall. She stayed for more than 20 years in the US, and performed more than 20 times in the legendary Ed Sullivan Show on TV. The Americans gave her the nickname ‘Sunshine girl’.

Following her divorce, Patachou married the American-born impresario Arthur Lesser and began planning a series of new musicals which she hoped would assure her a major comeback in France. But France was firmly in the grip of the Yé-yé craze and there appeared to be little place for artists of the 'older generation.' Patachou found that out to her cost when she returned to France in the late 1960s.

She soldiered on with her career, nevertheless, performing at small, low-key cabarets and at the restaurant on top of the Eiffel Tower. From the beginning of the 1970s, Patachou toured Japan and Sweden where L'eternal Parigot, with her cheeky Parisian register was still popular.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, no. 264. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris. Photo: Studio Harcourt, Paris.

Charming Grand-mother

Patachou finished her singing career, but in the 1980s she became again a well known actress on television and in the cinema. In 1983, Patachou made her screen come-back, appearing in the television film, Disparu le 7 octobre/Disappeared on 7 October (Jacques Ertaud, 1983).

Rfi music: "This opened a whole new chapter in her career and the French public witnessed their 'chanson' idol blossom into a fully-fledged actress as Patachou enjoyed a new lease of life, playing glamorous grandmothers.

In 1985, Patachou made her début in the French theatre, playing a lead role in Edouard Bourdet's play Le Sexe faible, staged at the Théâtre Hébertot.

Among her later films were Faubourg St Martin (Jean-Claude Guiguet, 1986) with Françoise Fabian, La Rumba (Roger Hanin, 1987) with Michel Piccoli, Pola X (Leos Carax, 1999) with Catherine Deneuve, and Les Acteurs/Actors (Bertrand Blier, 2000).

Probably her best known film role was the charming grand-mother Mathilde in the art-house hit Drôle de Félix/Funny Felix (Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau, 2000) starring Sami Bouajila. Her most recent film was San-Antonio (Frédéric Auburtin, 2003) starring Gérard Depardieu.

Patachou was named Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 2004. With Jean Billou she has a son, Pierre Billou, who had a certain success as a singer in the 1970s and wrote J'ai oublié de vivre for Johnny Hallyday. Patachou died of natural causes in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris. She was 96.

Patachou sings Chanson d'Irma La Douce. Source: Kaatjeaster (YouTube).

Trailer of Drôle de Félix/Funny Felix (2000). Source: peccadillopictures (YouTube).

Sources: Rfi music, Sylvester Hoogmoed (Het Chanson), Les gens du Cinema (French), Wikipedia and IMDb.

German actress Maria Paudler (1903-1990) was a popular star of the late silent cinema. She also played the leading role in the first German TV-film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4179/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Aafa Film.

Maria Paudler and Ernst Verebes in Der Bettlelstudent (1927)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 91/4. Photo: Aafa Film. Publicity still for Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927) with Ernst Verebes.

German postcard by Cicero Film. Distribution Deutsche Tonfilme.
The 'fine fleur' of late silent German cinema stars, united for a photo for an early sound film company. Standing left to right: Francis/Franz Lederer, Walter Rilla, Theodor Loos, Camilla Horn, Fritz Rasp and Walter Janssen, Sitting left to right: Paul Heidemann, Charlotte Susa, Betty Amann, Olga Tschechova, Maria Paudler and Jack Trevor. Might be publicity for the early sound comedy Die grosse Sehnsucht/The Great Longing (Stefan Szekely/Steve Sekely, 1930), in which all acted, mostly as themselves - only Loos and Horn played characters. The plot was an excuse for 35 stars to debut in a talking picture.

Harry Liedtke

Maria Paudler was born in Bodenbach, Austria-Hungary (now Podmokly, Czech Republic) in 1903. She was the daughter of an architect.

She studied at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Prague, and at the age of 17, she began her theatre career as Gretchen in Faust. In 1923 Leopold Jessner invited her to Berlin to be the partner of Alexander Moissiat the Preußische Staatstheater.

From 1925 on she appeared in her first films like Der Jüngling aus der Konfektion/The Lad From Manufacture (Richard Löwenbein, 1926) with Curt Bois, Madame wünscht keine Kinder/Madame Doesn't Want Children (Alexander Korda, 1926) with Harry Liedtke, Der Veilchenfresser/The Violet Eater (Friedrich Zelnik/Frederic Zelnik, 1926) starring Lil Dagover.

She then starred opposite Harry Liedtke in Der Bettelstudent/The Beggar Student (Jakob Fleck, Luise Fleck, 1927). Other silent films were Die weisse Spinne/The White Spider (Carl Boese, 1927), Orientexpress/Orient Express (Wilhelm Thiele, 1927), and Das letzte Fort/The Last Fort (Kurt Bernhardt/Curtis Bernhardt, 1928).

Maria Paudler was married with the actor Georg Czimag. After the separation she was engaged with her frequent co-star Harry Liedtke.

In the 1930s she concentrated on her stage work in Berlin and Vienna. She only played secondary parts in films like Zwei Welten/Two Worlds (Ewald André Dupont, 1930), Der falsche Ehemann/The Wrong Husband (Johannes Guter, 1931), and Junges Blut/Young Blood (Johannes Guter, 1936).

She also played the leading role in the first German TV film Adrian, der Tulpendieb/Adrian, the Thief of Tulips in 1938.

German postcard by Ross-Verlag, no. 3122/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3273/1, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 3849/2, 1928-1929. Photo: Aafa Film.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4166/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4687/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Böhm, Berlin.

Supporting Parts

After the war Maria Paudler was kept prisoner in the Czech Republic, and was only set free after an order of the Red Army. She worked for a few years in Dresden as an actress and a director.

From 1949 till 1951 she had to recover from a serious car accident. She continued her film career in Berlin, and acted in supporting parts in such films as Einmal am Rhein/Once at the Rhine (Helmut Weiss, 1952), the Heinz Rühmanncomedy Keine Angst vor grossen Tieren/No Fear For Big Animals (Ulrich Erfurth, 1953), and Ferien auf Immenhof/Holiday at Immenhof (Hermann Leitner, 1957).

In later years she often appeared on TV, like in such crime series as Der Kommissar (1974) and in Polizeiinspektion 1 (1985), which was to be her last role.

In 1968 she was awarded a Bambi, and in 1982 the Filmband in Gold. She published her memoirs in 1977 with the title Auch Lachen will gelernt sein (Laughing Also Has To Be Learned).

Maria Paudler died in 1990 in München. Her second husband was actor and director Kurt Skalden (1895-1975) with whom she had a son, actor Norbert Skalden (1936-1981).

French postcard by Europe, no. 482. Photo: Aafa-Film.

Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 98.

Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 100.

Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 102.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6284/1, 1931-1932. Sent by mail in the Netherlands. Photo: Alex Binder.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7360/1, 1932-1933. Collection: Didier Hanson.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7967/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Atelier Marion, Berlin.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Philippe Pelletier (CinéArtistes - French), Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.

Sepp Rist (1900-1980) was a top skier, who was spotted for the Mountain films by Arnold Fanck. Later the Athletic German actor with the typical tanned and weathered face played, hunters, foresters and other rugged characters in several Heimat films.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5680/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Aafa-Film. Publicity still for Stürme über dem Mont Blanc/Storm Over Mont Blanc (Arnold Fanck, 1930).

A violent snow storm

Sepp Rist was born in 1900 in Bad Hindelang in Bavaria. During the First World War, Rist was a stoker on a torpedo boat, and later radio telegrapher on the 1st Submarine Chaser-half-flotilla. From 1920 he worked for the Nuremberg police as a radio operator, and also worked temporarily at the airport in Fürth.

He was also a talented athlete who participated at the 1927 German Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and at other cross-country and jump skiing championships. At a ski race in Gurgl, cameraman Sepp Allgeier spotted him for the film.

Rist’s first film part was the male lead in Arnold Fanck's mountain film Stürme über dem Mont Blanc/Storm Over Mont Blanc (Arnold Fanck, 1930) opposite Leni Riefenstahl. Rist plays meteorologist Hannes who works alone at the Mont Blanc weather station gathering data. His only contact with the world below is via Morse code signals. He is joined by a woman friend, who helps him survive a terrible storm over the mountain.

Filmed on location in Arosa, Switzerland, Babelsberg Observatory in Potsdam, Germany, and Mont-Blanc in Chamonix, France, Wikipedia writes that Stürme über dem Mont Blanc is notable for its dramatic mountain footage and depictions of a violent snow storm. It was shot as a silent film and was later dubbed in the studio.

Stürme über dem Mont Blanc was followed by numerous other films in which Rist always embodied the seasoned Bavarian man image. He reunited with Fanck and Riefenstahl for the German-US drama S.O.S. Eisberg/S.O.S. Iceberg (Arnold Fanck, 1933).

S.O.S. Eisberg was a combination of Mountain film and Disaster film, written by Tom Reed based on a story by Arnold Fanck. An Arctic expedition goes in search of a party that was lost the previous year. S.O.S. Eisberg was filmed on location in Umanak, on the west coast of Greenland, in Iceland, and in the Bernina Alps, on the border between Italy and Switzerland. It was filmed simultaneously in German and English, and released by Universal Studios in both Germany and the United States. Rist appeared in both versions.

He appeared with Brigitte Horney in the Mountain film Der ewige Traum/The Eternal Dream (Arnold Fanck, 1934). In Die Reiter von Deutsch-Ostafrika/The Riders of German East Africa (Herbert Selpin, 1934), he played a German farmer in German East Africa, who is conscripted into the Schutztruppe (German armed colonial force) at the beginning of the First World War.

Rist also had a supporting part as a Gestapo commissioner in the propaganda film Verräter/The Traitor (Karl Ritter, 1936) starring Lída Baarová.

Leni Riefenstahl and Sepp Rist in Stürme über dem Mont Blanc (1930)

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5679/1, 1930-1931. Photo: Aafa-Film. Publicity still for Stürme über dem Mont Blanc/Storm Over Mont Blanc (Arnold Fanck, 1930) with Leni Riefenstahl.

Filming in far-flung and exotic locations

Quite the adventurer in real life, Sepp Rist was most at home filming in far-flung and exotic locations around the world. In Japan, he appeared in Kokumin no chikai/ The sacred goal (Hiromasa Nomura, 1938).

During the Second World War, Sepp Rist made the Heimat film Die Geierwally/Vulture-Wally (Hans Steinhoff, 1940) with Heidemarie Hatheyer, and Titanic (Werner Klingler, Herbert Selpin, 1943). Titanic used the sinking of the RMS Titanic as a setting for an attempt to discredit British and American capitalist dealings and glorify the bravery and selflessness of German men.

After the war, Sepp Rist frequently appeared in Heimat films, but only in small roles as hunters and foresters. He appeared in the American thriller The Devil Makes Three (Andrew Marton, 1952), set in post-World War II Germany, and starring Gene Kelly and Pier Angeli.

More recently, he played in episodes of such television series as the Krimi Der Kommissar/The Commissioner (1969-1970) with Erik Ode, and Königlich Bayerisches Amtsgericht/Royal Bavarian District Court (1970-1971).

His final films were the Heimat dramas Schloß Hubertus/Hubertus Castle (Harald Reinl, 1973) starring Robert Hoffmann, and Der Jäger von Fall/The Hunter from Fall (Harald Reinl, 1974).

Sepp Rist was married with actress Carla Rust. In 1980, he died at the age of 80 years. His wife had died three years before him.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. A 3215/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Kaufmann, Hindelang.

German postcard by Das Programm von Heute für Film und Theater / Ross Verlag, Berlin. Photo: Tobis / Haenchen. Collection: Miss Mertens.

Sources: Stephanie D’heil (Steffi-line - German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos – German), Nicole Gagne (AllMovie), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Neue Photographische Gesellschaft (NPG) was the first and for years the world’s biggest factory for real photographic bromide postcards, which were printed ‘by the kilometre’. The founder and driving force was Arthur Schwarz (1862-1944), who travelled various countries, established contacts and gained knowledge.

Henny Porten. German postcard by NPG (Neue Photographische Gesellschaft), no. G 1017/1.

Henny Porten. German postcard by NPG, no. G 1017/2.

Fern Andra. German postcard by NPG, no. G 1018/3.

Fern Andra. German postcard by NPG, no. 1018/6.

Fern Andra. German postcard by NPG, no. G 1019/4.

More than 40,000 postcards a day

The New Photographic Society was a member organisation of photographers founded by Arthur Schwarz. He founded the NPG in July 1894 in Berlin-Schöneberg and the 35 members turned the group into a Limited Corporation (in German: AG).

The members published many real photo postcards and stereo-views, and they manufactured photo paper as well. The majority of the offered cards were bromide real photo cards, the others done by (copper) gravure process.

The NPG developed the use of photosensitive bromide silver paper in rotation. They were the first company who used photographic paper in roll form, thus simplifying the mass production of photographs. The NPG was called the inventor of the ‘km photography’.

Arthur Schwarz travelled to 60 cities in 75 days, in Canada, Mexico, Russia, Greece, Italy, France, etc. In these cities he established contacts and gained experience and knowledge. These trips were the basis for the establishment of subsidiaries in 1890 in London and 1892 in New York.

Sári Fedák. Hungarian postcard by NPG, no. 0123/12, 1906. Photo: Strelisky, Budapest.

Italia Vitaliana. Italian postcard by NPG, no. 643. Photo: Sciutto. Gigi Sciutto was a famous Genovese photographer in the early 1900s. He supposedly shot the first film footage on Genova around 1897.

Oscar Beregi Sr. Hungarian postcard by NPG. Photo: Mátrai, Budapest.

Fern Andra. German postcard by NPG, no. G 1019/3.

Henny Porten. German postcard by NPG, no. 794/5. Sent by mail in the Netherlands in 1921.

Minimizing the competition

Backbone of the NPG success were machines used for photographic paper and printing constructed after US patents but improved. The machines automatically operated exposure and accelerated the process and solved the photo production from having to use glass plates. In one day more than 40,000 postcards could be produced. The NPG machines were built to last and some were in use for over 60 years.

Thanks to the various NPG patents registered between 1895-97 for many countries, Arthur Schwarz was in the position to minimize competition. In 1904 she had 650 employees, a few years later circa 1,200. NPG had branches and associated partner companies in London, New York, Paris, Vienna, Brussels, Milano etc.

They also printed real photo cards for other companies such as Rotograph and became the largest manufacturer of bromide postcards in the world. As demand for postcards grew they started publishing artist signed cards as tinted halftones.

NPG played a leading role, not only as photographic printer but also as publisher of thousands of postcards, stereo cards etc. Subjects for the postcards were the Kaiser and the Hohenzollern family, militaries, sculptures, and soon also actors. The first German film stars, like Henny Porten and Fern Andra, became popular subjects.

Lisa Weise. German postcard by NPG, no. 516. Photo: Lili Baruch, Berlin. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Alwin Neuss. German postcard by NPG, no. 823. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin.

Erna Morena. German postcard by NPG, no. 280. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Theodor Loos. German postcard by NPG, no. 894. Photo: Käthe Hirschfeld, Berlin.

Aud Egede Nissen. German postcard by NPG, no. 436. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Social enterprise

The NPG was characterized by a social enterprise culture. For the employee was a company health insurance set up, granted to employees in addition to free medical treatment and medicine sick pay. In addition, there was a life insurance policy on the basis of a bonus system and Christmas bonuses for all employees, which amounted to a total of 20,000 marks in 1903.

A fire brigade of 37 men provided security at the factory and the company's own casino supplied in its dining room 36 meters long and 14 meters wide, the employees with food and drinks at cost price. The female staff was granted a free lunch. A reading room with newspapers and a stage for performances and presentations provided for the welfare of the employees.

Between 1910 and 1912, the basics of color photography were developed by the chemist Rudolf Fischer and his collaborator Hans Sigrist in the laboratories of the NPG. However, the colour photography process was never really ready for the market.

Wanda Treumann. German postcard by NPG, no. 259. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Oscar Beregi Sr. German postcard by NPG, no. 1275 Photo: Angelo, Budapest, 1918.

Dorrit Weixler. German postcard by NPG, no. 266. Photo: Alex Binder, 1916.

Nils Chrisander. German postcard by NPG, no. 427. Photo: Alex Binder.

Inge Laury. German postcard by NPG, no. 1366. Photo: Eberth, Berlin. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Colour photography process

Arthur Schwarz had to leave his company in 1913. In 1921 a new NPG GmbH (Ltd) company was set up. Mimosa AG Dresden had bought shares of NPG already in 1920. The decline of the postcard boom, WW1, but also some mismanagement and the failed introduction of the colour photography process never really ready for the market, meant the end of the old company.

Local competitor E.A. Schwerdtfeger AG took over the NPG trademark and postcard department, who continued producing their cards until the Second World War.

The newly formed NPG Ltd. was in business until 1948. It stayed for many years in Berlin, and then moved to Dresden.

Neue Photographische Gesellschaft (NPG) had a variety of logo’s registered. The regular NPG logo is around in several designs and in all the film star postcards in this post.

Wanda Treumann. German postcard by NPG, no. 544. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Hans Mierendorff. German postcard by NPG, no. 658. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

Hanne Brinkmann. German postcard by NPG, no. 807. Photo: Anny Eberth, Berlin.

Theodoor Loos. German postcard by NPG, no. 957. Photo: Anny Eberth, Berlin.

Käthe Dorsch. German postcard by NPG (Neue Photographische Gesellschaft), no. 972. Photo: Käthe Hirschfeld, Berlin.

This was the eighth post in a series on film star postcard publishers. Next week: Kwatta. For earlier posts, see the links at right under the caption 'The Publishers'.

Sources: Wolfgang Holtz (Neue Photografische Gesellschaft Steglitz – German), The Postcard Album, Metropostcard and Wikipedia (German).

Dark-haired Senta Söneland (1882-1933) was a German comic actress whose peaks in her film career were in the later 1910s and the early 1930s.

German postcard no. K 144. Photo: A. Binder, Berlin, 1916.

German postcard by NPG, no. 1419. Photo: Zander & Labisch, Berlin.

Contract Clause

Senta Söneland was born as Else Bertha Sophie Adele Werder in Diedenhofen, Germany (now Thionville, France) in 1882. She was the daughter of a Prussian regimental commander. Senta started her career as a school teacher, but she also took acting lessons at the Schiller Theater.

In 1911 (some sources say 1910), she went to work at the Hoftheater Meiningen, and she specialized in comedy. In 1912 she returned to Berlin and performed at the Komödienhaus, at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm and at the Metropol-Theater.

She had a clause in her contract not to work for film, because of its bad reputation. Despite the clause, she went over to the cinema during the First World War, when the German theatre world imploded.

Between 1915 and 1919 Söneland was a popular screen comedienne with films like Der Onkel aus Amerika/The Uncle from America (Hans Hyan, 1915), Benjamin, der Schüchterne/Bashful Benjamin (William Karfiol, 1915) with Reinhold Schünzel, and Der Gattestellvertreter/The Representative of the Husband (Adolf Gartner, 1918) with Bruno Kastner.

She even had her own film series, with such titles as 'Senta as...'. In all these films she played the female lead. In addition she played supporting roles in such comedies as Pension Lampel (Max Mack, 1915) starring Hanni Weisse.

Söneland became politically active for the right of women to vote. In 1919, she held a fiery speech at the Berlin Zoo Station in front of hundreds of people on the occasion of the election for the National Assembly.

Senta Söneland and Jean Paul in Habakuk (1918)

German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2363. Photo: Elga Film. Publicity still for Habakuk (Franz Schmelter, 1918) with Jean Paul.

Comical Sidekicks

In the 1920s Senta Söneland did just two films and focused on the stage. Between 1923 and 1925 Söneland was a member of the Berlin Apollo Theater.

When sound cinema set in, Söneland returned to the screen and did many films in the early 1930s. She had major parts in Der Weg nach Rio/The Road to Rio (Manfred Noa, 1930), Reserve hat Ruh/Reserve has Rest (Max Obal, 1931), and Die Bräutigamswitwe/The bridegroom's widow (Richard Eichberg, 1931).

But she more often played minor parts now, as the comical sidekicks in Susanne macht Ordnung/Susanne does order (Eugen Thiele, 1930) starring Truus van Aalten, Der unbekannte Gast/The Unknown Guest (E.W. Emo) starring Szöke Szakall, and Hasenklein kann nichts dafür/Hasenklein Can Do Nothing For It (Max Neufeld, 1933) with Jakob Tiedtke and Lien Deyers.

Söneland also played herself in the filmed musical medleys Wiener Wald/Viennese forest (Günther Schwenn, 1931), Der Durchschnittsmann/The Average man (Gert Bendel, a.o., 1931), and Das Publikum singt mit/The Public Sings Along (1931); often with The Comedian Harmonists.

Since 1912, she was married with the former officer and later director of the Horch, Karl Ernst Krocker. He suddenly died in late 1933 as the result of an operation. After the death of her husband, she retired from the stage.

In 1934 Senta Söneland committed suicide. She could not cope mentally with the sudden loss of her husband, but she also feared the Nazi regime because of her Jewish ancestry. Söneland was 51.

Advertisment by Jo Steiner, 1912. Collection: Performing Arts / Artes Escénicas'.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6502/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Marion, Berlin.

Sources: Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Die Frau im Film 1919, Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

German actor, film director and screenwriter Ulrich Thein (1940–1995) appeared in 44 films and television shows between 1952 and 1995. His film Romanze mit Amélie/Romance with Amelie (1982) was entered into the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 2265, 1965. Retail price: 0,15 MDN. Photo: Schwarzer.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1613, 1961. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: A. Paskowiak.

DEFA Thriller

Ulrich Thein was born in Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany in 1940. He was the son of a theatre conductor and grew up under difficult conditions. His father died when Ulrich was four years old, and his mother, Else Thein, had to manage the family (Thein had two older brothers).

After high school, Thein studied music (harp and piano), and took acting classes. He got an engagement at the Staatstheater Braunschweig. In 1951 he moved over to East Germany and got his first role as the youngest member of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, where he remained until 1963.

He also played at the Theater der Freundschaft in Berlin (now Theater an der Parkaue) and was then actor and director at the Theater der Bergarbeiter(Theater of the miners) in Senftenberg.

Ulrich started his film career with the DEFA thriller Geheimakten Solvay/Secret Files of Solvay (Martin Hellberg, 1952) with Leny Marenbach.

In 1954 he played a supporting part in the crime film Alarm im Zirkus/Alarm in the Circus (Gerhard Klein, 1954) starring Erwin Geschonneck. This film was based on true events. In 1953 a robbery of horses at Circus Barlayhad been foiled and the screenplay was based on the press reports. With 3.6 million filmgoers, Alarm im Zirkus became the blockbuster of the year in East-Germany.

From then on Ulrich Thein played numerous roles in films by Martin Hellberg, Frank Beyer and Konrad Wolf. Among his other early DEFA films were Thomas Müntzer – Ein Film deutscher Geschichte/Thomas Müntzer (Martin Hellberg, 1956), Das Lied der Matrosen/The Sailor's Song (Kurt Maetzig, Günter Reisch, 1958) and SAS 181 antwortet nicht/SAS 181 Does Not Answer (Carl Ballhaus, 1959).

For the crime film Spur in die Nacht/Track in the night (Günter Reisch, 1957) he also was involved in the soundtrack for which he composed the Fuchsbau-Boogie (Burrow Boogie).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 3941/431, 1957. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: DEFA / Wunsch.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1675, 1962. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: A. Paskowiak.

Johann Sebastian Bach

In the early 1960s, Ulrich Thein continued to star in several East-German films, including the war drama Fünf Patronenhülsen/Five Cartridges (Frank Beyer, 1960) co-starring Armin Mueller-Stahl, the drama Professor Mamlock (Konrad Wolf, 1961) featuring Wolfgang Heinz, Septemberliebe/September Love (Kurt Maetzig, 1961), Königskinder/Star-Crossed Lovers (Frank Beyer, 1962) with Annekathrin Bürger, and Chronik eines Mordes/The Story of a Murder (Lothar Bellag, 1965) opposite Angelica Domröse.

In 1963 he wrote for the first time the script for a TV film, Der andere neben dir/The other one next to you, which he also directed successfully. For one and a half decades, Thein was one of the most successful television directors of the GDR. He took on important current themes again and again. He directed carefully and with much feeling for detail.

Since the late 1970s he made a come-back as a television actor in the series Polizeiruf 110/Police 110 (1977-1990). He also convincingly played the title roles in the biopics Martin Luther (Kurt Veth, 1982) and Johann Sebastian Bach (Lothar Bellag, 1983).

In 1982, he directed the film Romanze mit Amélie/Romance with Amelie (Ulrich Thein, 1982), which was entered into the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival. Thein became member of the Akademie der Künste der DDR (Academy of Arts of the GDR) in 1985, which he left in 1991 in protest against the terms of the unification of East and West-German Academies.

After the liquidation of the East-German television broadcaster DFF, he declined many ‘trivial’ offers by producers. From 1992 on, he worked as a lecturer at the Drama School Ernst Busch in Berlin. In addition to his work as an actor and director, Thein was also a pianist and he composed songs for his films.

His last film appearance was in the TV film Blutige Spur/Bloody Trail (Carlo Rola, 1995) starring Jan Niklas.

Ulrich Thein died in 1995 in Berlin. He was 54. His partners in life and in the cinema have included the actresses Christel Thein-Sörgel, Annekathrin Bürger und Renate Geißler. He was married to actress Jana Brejchová and after their divorce to actress Franziska Troegner till his death.

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 880, 1958. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: DEFA. Publicity still for Das Lied der Matrosen/The Sailor's Song (Kurt Maetzig, Günter Reisch, 1958).

East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 3943/657, 1958. Retail price: 0,20 DM. Photo: DEFA / Wunsch.

Sources: Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.